Kolkata, Feb 27 – A draft sample report prepared by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working for the welfare of sex workers’ children in West Bengal has highlighted how kids born in the brothels are reportedly being deprived of their basic rights as children.
According to the report prepared by the NGO ‘Amra Padatik’ (We, the foot-soldiers), sex workers’ children are being deprived of their rights in the spheres of education and even health, programme coordinator Mousumi Chowdhury Dam told IANS.
“Right now, a draft report based on a sample survey conducted among sex workers’ children in 21 red-light areas scattered over both North Bengal and South Bengal is ready. After the final report is prepared, it will be submitted to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,” she said.
Dam explained that often the sex workers’ children need to stay away from their mothers because of the professional reasons of the latter.
“During this period, they are either forced to stay with the woman running the red-light area or at times even alone outside the room or on the roof the building. This often leads to psychological problems for such children, which is not often being addressed by the competent authorities,” Dam said.
Secondly, the sex workers’ children who are admitted to private schools are often stigmatised, not just by the fellow students, but also by the teachers.
“Recently, one such child in Kolkata studying in a missionary school faced unnecessary humiliation. After a book in his class went missing, the teacher blamed the child without any valid reason. On being informed, we took up the matter with the school authorities following which the latter assured us that such things will not be repeated,” she said.
She also said that often out of fear of humiliation, such children are scared to reveal the profession of their mothers.
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